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Editorial work
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I am wondering as a freelance with little editorial experience, how you can be in with a chance of getting a newsworthy image published with the bigger newspapers & not being a member of nuj ?
For example if I was out & managed to capture a good image of a newsworthy event as it happened by chance, (most news photographers dream) how can I use it effectively & mabey even get paid for it if published ??Gerry
Simple. Send it in to the newspapers. They won’t really care who you are or what organisation you belong to once it’s newsworthy.
If they print it then invoice them.
The Irish Examiner will consider pictures from non professional sources where the pictures are of a good news or sports value, or just a great photograph! Where a Professional photographer was covering an event you will be unlikely to have your picture considered unless you have captured something unique.
If in doubt call us before going to any trouble and tell us (Briefly) about your picture. 50% of the time we may say “Sorry, not this time but please call again”, but just as often we will ask you to send it and “Lets see”. We only pay for pictures that are published – not submitted.
If you have a News or Sports picture, there is no point in calling us the day after the event, the picture needs to be sent ASAP on the day. (Weekly papers will be different of course).
This is what we like:
Sharp, well exposed pictures, which are interesting to other people!
File size: Between 5 and 15Mb when open or 300Kb – 1.5Mb when saved as a JPEG / .jpg file at Medium setting. ONLY send JPEG files, never RAW or TIFF, NEVER in a WORD document or ZIPed or in a folder.
CAPTION: This is absolutely essential. A caption is the detail you read under a picture in the paper and it should tell the reader all the basic information they need to know. Typically it will answer the following questions: Who?, What?, Where?, When? and How? (not always relevant). Professionals and anybody sending pictures on a regular basis will be expected to provide this caption information in FILE INFO in Photoshop (or Elements). There are other packages that support this (Sometimes called IPTC Header information) like a FREE download called IRFAN VIEW (needs a “Plug-in” to be downloaded also). For a one-off picture it is usually acceptable to write the caption into the body of the e-mail with a clear link to the picture file name -if sending more than one image. The FILE NAME field is not the same thing!
A typical caption for a news picture would read like this:
14/03/09 (date the pictures was taken): John Murphy, Lissarda, Co. Tipperary who witnessed the Light aircraft crash at Gort, Co. Dublin in which three people died. Picture: Joe Bloggs.Avoid any opinion or assumptions (Like how the accident may have occurred).
e-mail you pictures to: picturedeskexaminer.ie
Standard rates are paid on PUBLICATION of any image, it is very rare for anything to be so exclusive to command a higher fee (Think Concord crash!)
Thanks Paddy for that in depth explanation on how to send in pics.
Its very helpful…I often send in photos to the local weekly papers
but they are more relaxed…the dailys are a different matter…good
info indeed.Noel Browne.
excellent info.. now a further question is there a standard rate card for newspaper published photos ?
I provide photos for one of the sports NGBs on a regular basis and they send those pictures out with their press releases. Now the magazines associated with the sport do pay for use of the photos but I’m not aware of any standard behaviour on the part of the newspapers.
The attitude from the regional papers is very mixed. One regional newspaper consistently removes the name of the NGBs primary sponsor from the press releases even though otherwise publishing the release verbatim. Others send photographers to events, while others request copyright-free images to be provided to them.All papers that I know of set the rates they pay for Picture usage or assignments. As a general rule the bigger the Publication the better the pay – but not always. Any pictures that are supplied to promote something / somebody are assumed to be Free (“Repro Free”). This would be the case for golf clubs sending in their pics or the big multi-nationals their model laden PR photoshoots. If you supply pictures to a club or organisation who will release them to promote themselves you should be paid by that organisation, and agree the fee before giving them the pictures.
I have read on various forums so often that “X” used my pictures and how do I get paid? Well, agree a fee first then Invoice if Published- it’s quite simple!The Examiner rates are given out only to people who have had, or are about to have, pictures published. But as a guide they are in excess of €50. If more than one picture is used from an event the maximum payment is capped at the Day pay rate (about 3 pics). Sorry to be vague but this information is commercially sensitive.
I understand Paddy but thanks very much for the info that you did provide I think some will find it very helpful
Great post by the examiner, fantastic.
I have one or two questions on this too..
Method of payments?… must a photographer invoice?.. must one be registered for vat etc etc. Is there ever a case where by your paid cash or am i in la la land?..
From experience and understanding, the photographer always has to invoice the paper, and is almost always paid by cheque.
As for vat, tax, etc, that’s the responsibility of the photographer anyway, no matter where they earn money from.
Some papers will pay automatically (Mostly UK based), but most insist on being Invoiced (anybody who is VAT registered must produce an Invoice anyway). The Examiner Needs to be Invoiced!
Cash?? Dream on! Payment is by cheque for occasional suppliers but by bank transfer for regulars and takes about 60 days. VAT is only charged if you are VAT registered.
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